ALL NOVEL Chapter 35
“It’s really expensive to maintain a stock of potions, isn’t it…”
I muttered to myself as I clicked away on my mouse, inputting numbers into a spreadsheet software developed by that famous company with the window OS. As I examined the financials of the brigade, I found several rows highlighted in deep red—numbers that stood out, signaling significant expenses.
The spreadsheet I was using displayed the brigade’s expenses, and the items marked in red indicated areas where our spending was alarmingly high.
Originally, all the administrative tasks related to the brigade were handled by Seioji or Aina, who was in charge of supplies. However, the workload was immense, and neither of them had specialized knowledge in this area.
While it’s not like Seioji and Aina were being completely careless, they lacked the precision that modern technology like computers could offer. By running the numbers through the software, several areas needing improvement quickly became apparent.
One section that particularly caught my attention was related to the potions used by the brigade.
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“The potions commonly used in the world of Asphial are absorbed through the cell walls, stimulating the nuclei and accelerating cell regeneration to an abnormal degree. The liquid also temporarily compensates for lost body parts, allowing wounds to heal at an extraordinary rate,” explained Yoshida-san, the head researcher.
I had come to visit a secret research facility operated by the Seioji Group, located near the border between Tokyo and Chiba. The facility, which looked like an ordinary factory from the outside, was heavily guarded and equipped with surveillance cameras. It was the kind of place even a legendary stealth soldier from a certain game series would struggle to infiltrate.
Inside, researchers working almost full-time were studying the strange substances I had brought back from the world of Asphial. Yoshida-san, in a white lab coat and black-rimmed glasses, had dark circles under his eyes but still managed to enthusiastically explain how the potion from Asphial worked, showing me videos taken through an electron microscope.
Although I had no expertise in this field, the excitement in his voice as he broke down the potion’s effects was infectious, even if I barely understood half of it.
“So, does that mean the potion’s power is based on magic?”
“Most likely. While the genetic makeup of the plants in Asphial is somewhat different from Earth’s, it doesn’t explain the drastic effects the potion has on the human body. This leads us to believe that an unknown energy source—magic—is involved.”
At the Seioji Group’s secret research facility, they were not only studying the herbs and minerals I had brought but were particularly focused on observing magic.
While Seioji and I can sense magic through our vision or touch, people like Yoshida-san, Akira, or Ryugen, who were born and raised on Earth, couldn’t perceive magic at all. Furthermore, there was no equipment to measure it.
Because of this, when I undergo medical tests here, the results just show that I’m a normal person. Of course, if I ran at full speed or participated in a physical test like the 100-meter sprint or shot put, the results would be far beyond the capacity of an ordinary human. But the reason for those results remains a mystery.
The ongoing research is based on the hypothesis that some form of magical energy, or mana, is at work, and they’re developing devices to observe it.
“Even if we cultivate these herbs on Earth, they won’t be as effective as the ones from Asphial.”
“Still, introducing them here would be a breakthrough worthy of a Nobel Prize. Most of them wither away, and we can’t propagate them, so mass production isn’t possible.”
In Asphial, magical herbs grow primarily in areas with high concentrations of mana, like dungeons or remote regions. The effectiveness of the herbs is said to increase in environments with higher mana concentrations, further suggesting that the power of the herbs is tied to magic.
“However, there is potential for long-term preservation. Even if you heat-sterilize the potion, its effectiveness doesn’t decrease. Also, if stored in a vacuum, the release of mana—what we assume is the active substance—can be suppressed.”
Although we still can’t observe magic directly on Earth, there are ways to study its properties.
“If the amount of mana contained within the herbs affects their medicinal properties, then it would explain why potions in Asphial lose half of their potency after a week and gradually become less effective.”
“What about storing them in a vacuum?”
“Depending on the material used for sealing, standard vacuum packaging can preserve them for about a month. It also makes the potion more compact.”
In Asphial, potions are usually stored in glass containers similar to the round-bottomed flasks you often see in video games. This is because other materials allow oxygen to seep in, or the container might warp due to the potion liquid itself. Moreover, the color of the potion changes depending on its potency, so a transparent glass container makes it easier to distinguish between different potions.
However, there are downsides to using glass: it’s fragile and heavy, making it cumbersome to carry around.
“For now, if vacuum sealing works, I’d like to try it.”
“Let’s also explore materials that can further suppress the release of mana. That could significantly improve the preservation.”
With Yoshida-san’s proposal in mind, I decided to develop new containers for potions.